Pete Rose still believes ‘I’m the best ambassador baseball has’

Pete Rose visits with members of the Washington Wild Things in their dugout before a Frontier League baseball game against the Lake Erie Crushers in Washington, Pa, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pete Rose isn’t shy about what he means to the game that banned him.

“I believe I’m the best ambassador baseball has,” he said.

Rose appeared on a conference call Thursday to promote Fox’s broadcast of the July 14 All-Star Game at Great American Ball Park, located in Cincinnati along Pete Rose Way.

The hits king will serve as a Fox analyst and appear on the field before the first pitch (with Commissioner Rob Manfred’s permission) with fellow Reds legends Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Barry Larkin as part of MLB’s Franchise Four promotion.

He said he hopes to run into Manfred, who said in March he’d consider Rose’s request for reinstatement, and meet with him after the All-Star break, adding, “I’m open to almost anything.”

ESPN recently reported it obtained documents showing Rose bet on games as a player-manager in 1986. His ban was for betting on games as a manager.

I asked Rose if he thinks he has a better chance for reinstatement and the Hall of Fame under Manfred than Bud Selig.

“I don’t know if I have better chance or not,” Rose said. “When you say better chance, just having him review my status, I’m happy with. I’m looking forward to sitting down one on one with Mr. Manfred and discussing the situation. I really am. I don’t know when that may happen. I believe it will happen sometime after the All-Star break. I can’t give you a date. . . . I’ll just sit there with him and talk with him about my life in baseball.”

What does he believe he needs to do or present to Manfred to get reinstated?

“I don’t know,” Rose said. “All I can tell you is, I’m not the same guy today as I was 25, 30 years ago. I realize 25, 30 years ago I made mistakes, and I’m not the same guy today. I’m just a solid baseball fan who loves the game, cares about the game and tries to help the game on a daily basis. We’ll go from there.”

I also asked about the collision with Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game, mentioning the play “hurt” Fosse’s career, which it did. Rose suggested I had said it “ruined” his career, which it didn’t. He said other things that warranted a follow-up question, but I was cut off from asking any more questions. Maybe there was a limit on questions. Maybe someone didn’t like the line of questioning.

Later in the call, Frank Thomas, who’ll accompany Rose as a Fox analyst and played for the A’s, told Rose that Fosse (an A’s broadcaster) is “not that bitter” about the play, and Rose responded, “He shouldn’t be. I’m the one who got hurt. He didn’t get hurt.”

That’s not true about Fosse, as history shows.

Rose will be an analyst advancing the Home Run Derby and, the next day, the game itself. Rose said it’s the first All-Star Game he’ll attend that he didn’t play in.

His “best ambassador” line, which he has used in the past, was in reference not just to his records, he said, but spending time with people and signing autographs and talking up the game.

Rose was asked about other All-Star matters:

On his presence at the game: “To be on the field with two of my teammates (Bench and Morgan) and only player I managed to make the Hall of Fame, Barry Larkin, who like me is from Cincinnati, to be able to come out from behind home plate on the field, it will be a big honor for me.”

On the importance of the game: “I’m different. I believe you should play every game to win. That was pathetic when they ran out of players in Milwaukee. I feel for Bud Selig in that situation. I even told Bud later on, ‘Now you know how it feels to be booed in a white uniform.’ . . . How do you run out of pitchers? That was Joe Torre and Bob Brenly. I guarantee you Bruce Bochy and (Ned Yost) won’t run out of players on Tuesday night, and if they did, they didn’t manage the game right.”

On the system of fans electing the starters: “There’s not really a right or wrong way to do it. There again, computers work in Philadelphia, New York and L.A. like they do in Kansas City. Evidently, Kansas City fans take it upon themselves. I don’t know how it happened, but Todd Frazier gained over a million votes in the last week. Someone else is working on his behalf, too.”

On the starters playing longer: “People are voting for players they want to see. I don’t want to see (a player such as Derek) Jeter take two or three at-bats and take a fly. I want to see him play the whole game. There’s a reason players make the starting lineup, get the most votes. (Cincinnati’s Todd) Frazier, he came out strong, the starting third baseman. I’d be surprised if he batted once or twice for the Cincinnati crowd. Or whoever else is starting. I want to see the star players at least into the sixth or seventh inning. If you want to start the game, go out and put up statistics where people will vote for you, and they’ll vote you into the game. That’s the way I look at it. Be happy that you’re a member of the team. It’s just a pleasure, an honor I think to be on an American League or National League All-Star team. If you can help your team win or get a game-winning hit, more power to you.”

On his own experience regarding playing time: “In 1967, I made the team as an outfielder, and I didn’t get in the game until the 13th or 14th inning, and when I got in the game, I played second base. The reason I didn’t get in the game until that time was, I was the only guy on the bench left who could catch if we needed a catcher. So we didn’t necessarily get mad if we didn’t play back in the ‘50s or ‘60s. I can’t imagine Willie Mays or Hank Aaron or Roberto Clemente or Stan Musial making the All-Star Game and getting one or two at-bats and taking a hike. They wanted to play the whole game. We wanted to play the whole game. But if you got playing time, you were happy. It was league pressure. We thought we were better. We had no interleague play at that time except spring training, so we thought the National League was superior to the American League. And if you had Carl Yastrzemski on the phone right now, he’d tell you the American League was superior to the National League. That’s why we took the game so seriously. We played in 17 of them, and of the 17, we won 16. The only loss was in ‘71 in Detroit. If you were ever in pregame meeting with (then-NL president) Warren Giles, you’d understand what I’m talking about because his veins would pop out when talking about winning that game.”